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US keener to give its spies a kicking

By Bronwen Maddox

July 15 2004, 1:00am, The Times

THE Senate Intelligence Committee, which covered the same ground as Lord Butler did, delivered last week a condemnation of prewar intelligence. It was the harshest congressional indictment of US intelligence for 30 years and more critical in every respect than the Butler committee’s.

On many points, the Senate and Butler reports are strikingly similar. But the dramatic difference is in tone. The Senate, even though it is under Republican control and broadly sympathetic to President Bush, takes seriously the role of Congress as a check on the President’s power and as a monitor of the intelligence agencies.

Time to prepare report: Butler took six months over his 196-page report, while the Senate took one year for its 511 pages.

Political influences: Butler was picked as…

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